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1914 : Was this the last St Ives Flower Show?

We're gearing up for another St Ives Flower & Produce Show in the Corn Exchange on Saturday 30 August. In fact we've been working on this year's show since last October.

Last year there was great enthusiasm from visitors for the posters we displayed showing the history of the show. One explained the beginnings in 1876, the other what was happening one hundred years ago. The 1913 poster was quite poignant, explaining how World War 1 affected the families and exhibitors who took part in the show. Here are links to those posters.

Researching the poster for 1914, I expected residents of the town to be in a turmoil over the war. Not a bit of it. Considered to be the major trigger of the war, the assignation of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria took place just over a fortnight before the 1914 show. Yet there was little understanding of what was to come. Even European leaders didn't realise the seriousness of the situation. Yet just three weeks after the 1914 show, Britain had declared war on Germany.

It's left me wondering if the 40th show took place in 1915. One in four of the male population were involved in the war, and St Ives residents must have had much more important things on their minds than a flower show. Will have to find out when we're preparing for next year's show.

Below you'll find a link to the poster about 1914. There's also a link to the show website, where you can read transcripts of the newspaper articles from past shows right back to 1876.

2 comments:

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